1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring corona discharge of power facilities by a UV sensor with an optical lens and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for measuring corona discharge of power facilities that may effectively analyze conditions of power facilities by accurately detecting a location of corona discharge through a UV sensor with an optical lens and matching a real image with a UV image to detect a location generating UV rays upon corona discharge caused by degradation or insulation deterioration of the power facilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power facilities refer to an aggregate of instruments for use in controlling transfer, storage, transformation, and shielding of electric energy. The power facilities generally undergo insulation failure under negative conditions, such as long-term use at high voltage, manufacturing defect, installation defect, and the like.
Particularly, current flow on surfaces or discharge in air can lead to various accidents such as electric power interruption, fire, damage to power facilities, and the like under negligence of security management.
In general, when a defect is formed on a certain component used in large size electric power facilities including power cables and other components, partial discharge occurs from this defect and continuation of the partial discharge results in discharge by insulation deterioration on the surfaces of the power facilities or in air, which leads to insulation failure of the power cables and other components.
Although there are various direct factors causing insulation deterioration of insulators, such as temperature, humidity, mechanical vibration, and other conditions around the insulators, the most representative direct factor of insulation deterioration is internal partial discharge.
Phenomena caused by the partial discharge include light emission, noise, electric energy emission, gas discharge, and the like.
If discharge by insulation deterioration on the surfaces of the power facilities or discharge in air can be measured at an initial time, the power cables and other components of the power facilities can be prevented from undergoing insulation failure.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional UV sensor. When UV rays are emitted due to corona discharge resulting from insulation deterioration, photons are discharged and detected by an anode and cathode of a photo receiver in the UV sensor
A conventional apparatus for detecting insulation deterioration based on corona discharge is a measurement system that includes an array of such UV sensors and a main system for receiving and analyzing signals.
Among such conventional systems, a system for detecting insulation deterioration using an ultrasound sensor can detect insulation deterioration only after the deterioration proceeds to some degree, and thus cannot detect an initial state of insulation deterioration, thereby providing a high frequency of erroneous detection.
Therefore, recently, a discharge detection system is used to detect an image of UV rays with a camera, which is provided with a UV sensor for detecting discharge of UV rays caused by insulation deterioration.
Recently, such a conventional discharge detection system is sometimes used for safety management of power facilities. However, the conventional discharge detection system is inconvenient due to its heavy weight and is required to have grounds or criteria for determining malfunction of the power facilities. Moreover, the conventional discharge detection system is generally imported from foreign countries and restricted in terms of use due to its high price.